No Libertarian “Truce” With Conservatives On Social Issues

For the first time in more than four decades of polling on the issue, a majority of Americans favor legalizing the use of marijuana. A national survey finds that 52% say that the use of marijuana should be made legal while 45% say it should not. Support for legalizing marijuana has risen 11 points since 2010. …

Fully 65% of Millennials – born since 1980 and now between 18 and 32 – favor legalizing the use of marijuana, up from just 36% in 2008. … Half (50%) of Boomers now favor legalizing marijuana, among the highest percentages ever.

The poll shows that 58 percent of Americans now believe it should be legal for gay and lesbian couples to get married; 36 percent say it should be illegal.

Public attitudes toward gay marriage are a mirror image of what they were a decade ago: in 2003, 37 percent favored gay nuptials, and 55 percent opposed them.

… Among young adults age 18 to 29, support for gay marriage is overwhelming, hitting a record high of 81 percent in the new poll.

A new poll by Quinnipiac University finds that a majority of Republicans favor immigration reform that would allow workers who entered the country illegally to stay, with a plurality supporting an eventual pathway to citizenship. Among the general public, 70% support letting undocumented workers stay, and nearly 60% favor a pathway to citizenship.

Given a menu of three options for how to handle immigrants residing in the country illegally, 47 percent of Republicans preferred letting them stay and eventually apply for citizenship, versus just 10 percent who preferred letting them stay without the chance to become citizens. 36 percent said they should be required to leave.

Overall, 59 percent of respondents said they support a path to citizenship, versus 11 percent who supported legal status short of citizenship, and 25 percent who preferred deportation

In the last election, a majority of voters in Maryland, Maine, and Washington voted to legalize same-sex marriage, and voters in Minnesota rejected a constitutional ban on gay marriage.

For the first time ever, majorities in Washington and Colorado voted to completely legalize marijuana, and Massachusetts approved a measure legalizing medicinal cannabis.

The GOP’s share of the Hispanic vote dropped to a historic low of 27 percent, down from John McCain’s 31% in 2008, and drastically lower than George Bush’s 44% in 2004.